Wild Shakes Up Lines

Yesterday, Head Coach Mike Yeo hinted that the Wild might shake things up amongst the forward lines. At today’s practice at Jobing.com Arena, things looked much different as the Wild recalled Charlie Coyle from its American Hockey League affiliate, the Houston Aeros, and the forward joined the team on the ice.

It looks like Coyle will make his NHL debut tomorrow night against the Phoenix Coyotes as he was slotted on the right wing with Pierre-Marc Bouchard and, moving to center, Matt Cullen, who was back on the ice after resting yesterday after taking a check into the boards on Friday in Anaheim.

The Wild briefly went through a few rushes with the top three lines looking like this:

Parise – Koivu – Heatley

Bouchard – Cullen – Coyle

Mitchell – Brodziak – Clutterbuck

Centering fourth line was Zenon Konopka with the wingers continually changing like a stoplight between Setoguchi, Powe, Granlund and Kassian.

The Wild then moved onto power play practice, with the first unit remaining: Heatley – Koivu – Parise – Bouchard – Suter. The second was altered with Cullen moving to the point: Cullen – Gilbert – Setoguchi – Coyle – Granlund.

After the skate, Yeo didn’t divulge what the team’s lineup would look like, but with the power play units, it’s interesting to speculate on what the lines will look like come puck drop tomorrow night.

After the special teams sets, the club worked intensely on D-zone coverage, with the pace much like yesterday’s skate. Minnesota then moved to the neutral zone, with lines going head-to-head in blue-line-to-blue-line work.

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Mike Doyle is the Managing Editor of Wild.com, and posts on "View from the Lighthouse" under the user name mdoylewild. This State of Hockey transplant and former SCSU Husky hockey player reports on all stories Minnesota Wild.

Ben Wolfson is a Digital Media Coordinator for Wild.com and posts on "View from the Lighthouse" under the user name of bwolfsonwild. This Plymouth native attended the hockey powerhouse of the University of Iowa and reports on all stories Minnesota Wild.